UA women's 1,600 relay shines bright

Arkansas runner Taylor Ellis-Watson heads down the home stretch in the women's 400-meter preliminaries Thursday, May 29, 2014, at the 2014 NCAA West Preliminary track meet at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville.
Arkansas runner Taylor Ellis-Watson heads down the home stretch in the women's 400-meter preliminaries Thursday, May 29, 2014, at the 2014 NCAA West Preliminary track meet at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville.

Arkansas' women's 1,600 relay team came into the NCAA West Regional with the 14th-fastest time in the college ranks this outdoor season and left Lawrence, Kan., on top of the world.

The Razorbacks' quartet of Damajahee Birch, Daina Harper, Monisa Dobbins and Taylor Ellis-Watson ran a school-record and world-leading time of 3:25.48 Saturday at Rock Chalk Park.

It broke the previous Arkansas record of 3:27.09 -- set in 2013 by the NCAA champion team of Chrishuna Williams, Sparkle McKnight, Gwendolyn Flowers and Regina George -- and was a nearly five-second improvement over the Razorbacks' season-best of 3:32.00.

Adding to the enjoyment for the Razorbacks record-setting performance was beating Texas, which came into the West Regional with the nation's second-fastest time of 3:26.54.

The Longhorns, running in the same heat as Arkansas Saturday, ran 3:25.59 to finish second.

"Beating Texas is icing on the cake," Arkansas Coach Lance Harter said. "We ran a perfect race and I feel like our relay announced themselves nationally.

"Now going into the NCAA meet, if it comes down the mile relay, we could make things exciting."

After a strong showing in Lawrence, the No. 2 Razorbacks will have 20 athletes competing in 18 events at the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore., with a combined 21 scoring opportunities.

Arkansas senior Dominique Scott-Efurd, a three-time NCAA champion, won the 10,000 Friday night and won her heat in the 5,000 Saturday to automatically advance in both events.

Harter said Scott-Efurd stayed in the pack for most of her heat in the 5,000, then took control.

"Dominique basically let everybody else do the work and then she ran her last 800 in 2 minutes and 11 seconds, which is unheard in college," Harter said. "That's what the pros do, but she put everybody away quite comfortably."

Ellis-Watson, a senior and nine-time All-American, advanced in the 400 meters Friday and also ran on the 400 relay Saturday that advanced.

Harter said Ellis-Watson got the baton for the anchor lead of the 1,600 relay with the smallest of leads over Texas senior Courtney Akolo, the national leader in the 400.

"Taylor was ahead of Akolo by maybe a meter," Harter said. "But that was enough for Taylor to hold her off."

Harter said Birch, a freshman, and Dobbins -- a senior and former Arkansas state high school champion at Nashville who recently rejoined the team after a lengthy time away -- were a "bit of a mystery" as to how they'd run.

"But they both ran fantastic legs that gave Daina and Taylor a chance to match up with the Texas girls," Harter said. "When you're running against the right company and your early legs set you up to be in the hunt, this is the kind of race you can produce.

"The idea we've talked about on the relay all year is, 'Ladies, one of the blessings you have is to just keep us in contact for the last leg, because we have one of the greatest weapons in the nation anchoring for us in Taylor.'"

Sports on 05/29/2016

Upcoming Events